A/N: I commissioned an artist named TwilaHolmes to draw a picture for this story, if you're reading this on Wattpad or Quotev you can see it on chapter 3, if not, feel free to view it by following the link. sta. sh /06 hb9 0csy58

Twila is an awesome artist so if you have deviantART I recommend watching her! She has Tumblr too

Anyway on with the chapter!

"Isabella?" I called out, walking around the motel. No one responded. I wasn't speaking overly loudly though, because waking mortals wasn't going to help me in any way.

"Isabella?" I called out once again. I summoned some undead warriors, and sent them to look for my friend. Meanwhile, I crept a little further away from the motel, still calling her name. No response.

Gods, Nico, I thought. You can't even watch a kid for an entire night!

I was even looking inside other people's rooms. It was pretty embarrassing, but I was getting desperate. I was pretty relieved when I saw one of my undead soldiers approaching.

"Did you find her?" I asked.

The skeleton guard probably would've looked worried if it could.

Yes, lord, its voice hissed in my head. She is in a cemetery.

"A cemetery?" I frowned. "Why would she be…" I sighed. "You know what, just lead me to this cemetery in question."

We got to the cemetery. Like most cemeteries it was long and dark and full of tombstones. And the dead calling out to me. It was slightly annoying when you were trying to look for a child.

I looked around, but couldn't see Isabella anywhere. I gripped my sword, just in case things got messy. I gritted my teeth, a faint breeze blowing through my hair. The sky was midnight black, stars twinkling like little diamonds. How's that for 'descriptive writing'? No? Whatever.

Anyway, I continued following my skeleton friends, until they stopped at a open grave. I saw bags of McDonald's on the side, and a few chicken McNuggets sprawled across the ground. No Isabella, though.

Weird, I thought. Pretty sure I've never been here before…

"So… where is she?" I asked.

She was here, a skeleton replied.

"Was here," I frowned. "Why? And where is she now?"

I believe she was trying to summon someone, the skeleton said. From the dead.

I scowled. "Seriously? But she can't…" I wanted to slap someone. Did she really think she could summon the dead? Why would she even try?

I had a feeling this had something to do with her dad.

"Do you know where she is now?" I asked again.

She was kidnapped, the skeleton replied. By two Cyclopes.

"Wonderful," I grumbled sarcastically, though internally I was freaking out. "And where did they take her?"

I believe they said something about the Golden Gate Bridge… the skeleton said, shrugging. Yep, skeletons do that.

I sighed. "Welp, looks like we're going to San Francisco a little early."

I packed everything into the bag. I noticed we had less money than before, which meant Isabella must've used it to buy the McDonald's. You can probably tell I wasn't in the mood to be skipping through a field of daisies. (Though I'd never be in the mood to do that, I hate flowers.) Now I knew why she was asking those questions about death.

"The little-" I cut myself off. San Francisco was far away, and I was gonna have to shadow travel there. I had a bottle of Gatorade prepared. I clambered into the nearest shadow, and arrived at San Francisco. Despite being the middle of the night, there were still cars driving and people walking around. The Golden Gate Bridge was up ahead, looking all shiny and cool.

I was in an alleyway. After skulling a whole bottle of Gatorade (while half asleep!), I slipped through the shadows, like a ninja. I couldn't see any monsters… yet. I saw plenty of drunk mortals though. Fun times for everybody.

After almost crashing into a feral cat, I noticed two figures in the distance. Two definitely non-human figures. I raced towards them, while still slipping through the shadows. As I got closer, I could tell they were monsters. They were standing next to a fruit truck.

One of the Cyclopes put something that looked like a cage into the truck. Then they both climbed in. The truck began moving forward, heading towards the bridge. I frowned. No way I was going to be able to catch up to them. If I shadow-travelled again I would've passed out. Even now I was still drowsy.

Then I remembered I had a zombie chauffeur. Gift from my dad, long story.

I summoned Jules-Albert. He rocked up with a limousine, naturally.

"Good evening, monsieur," he said. Did I mention he's French?

"Hey," I said. "How do you feel about participating in a car- well, truck - chase with me?"

That zombie sent shivers down my spine with that smile. "I would very much enjoy that."